Does Krishna’s statement (18.60) that we are bound to act according to our nature leave any scope for free will? If it didn’t, why would Krishna even bother to guide Arjuna by speaking the Gita? 

Though we can’t change our psychophysical nature, that fact doesn’t take away our free will; it just delimits the scope of our free will. Krishna points to this subtle truth through the analogy of a machine (yantra, 18.61). We can compare our body to a car and our nature to the car’s basic capacity and functionality. That we can’t change our nature means that, say, we can’t get a fiat to speed like a racing car. Nonetheless, we can choose two important things: how we drive our car — carefully or recklessly — and where we drive our car: say, toward home or away from it. We don’t have to become passive passengers while the car goes on auto-drive mode and takes us someplace where we don’t want to go. 

Just because we can’t change our nature doesn’t mean we have to be controlled by it; we can work with it, cooperatively and constructively. How? First, by becoming conscious through vigilant self-observation — thus, we can better detect and prevent the car’s auto-drive function from taking over. Second, by becoming Krishna conscious, knowing that Krishna is the indwelling controller of nature and well-wisher of all of us — thus, his grace will guide and empower us to choose the best destination and drive toward it most effectively. Pertinently, Krishna concludes this section by urging Arjuna to surrender to the indwelling Lord (18.62). 

One-sentence summary: 

That we have to act according to our nature means that we can’t change the basic way of functioning of our bodily car — still, we can change how we drive it and toward where we drive it.

Think it over:

  • Though we can’t change our nature, we still have scope for our free will. Explain with a Gita metaphor. 
  • How can becoming more conscious help us?
  • How can becoming Krishna conscious help us? 

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18.60: Under illusion you are now declining to act according to My direction. But, compelled by the work born of your own nature, you will act all the same, O son of Kunti.

We are bound to act according to our nature — what does this mean?

To know more about this verse, please click on the image